Americans Love Breakfast, Perhaps More Than Babies

Even if some people at certain publications don’t think breakfast is the most important meal of the day, Americans believe otherwise, and the rate of U.S. breakfast consumption is growing fast. So fast, in fact, the the speed will eclipse the growth of the country’s population. According to researchers at The NPD Group, “total breakfast occasions” will grow 5 percent over the next three years, ahead of an expected population growth of 4 percent. In 2015, the average person ate 361 breakfasts or morning snacks, both in-home and on-the-go, though according to The NPD Group’s research, the vast majority of breakfasts, 70 percent, are still eaten at home rather than in restaurants.

That isn’t to say that restaurants have been suffering because everyone’s staying at home making eggs and waffles. If anything, The NPD Group found that customers are going to fast food and quick take-out joints in the morning looking for “speed, affordability, and portability.” And restaurants have been delivering. Just look at the overwhelming success of McDonald’s all-day breakfast, which helped sales at the fast food giant grow 5 percent in three months.

Breakfast is big business that’s only going to keep getting bigger, so all the haters out there, take note. The national obsession with breakfast isn’t going away anytime soon, and if anything, it’s only going to get more rollicking as more restaurants get on board. There’ll be more breakfast options at more times of the day in more places, and that’s an America I’m happy to call home. (Though I’m not going to be holding my breath for the McDonald’s egg benedict.)